Thursday, September 28, 2006

Our trip should be interesting today. We’re going to be spending the day in Disneyland, err – I mean the Magic Kingdom here at Walt Disney World. And today, we have a special treat – as we will be eating breakfast at Cinderella’s Round Table, rather than at the Old Port Royale. Cinderella’s round table does take two “table service” meals from the dining plan, but it is a good experience that my mom had not done yet. So, it made perfect sense for us to go.

The meal was good, and it was fun to eat in the castle. Although it took us quite awhile to be seated – what appeared to be poor organization at Cinderella’s Round Table was simply that there was a brief issue with Cinderella. Once that was resolved – we were able to enjoy our meal and experience.

Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom is very similar to Disneyland in southern California where we have had season passes in years past. The rides and areas that were most interesting for us include:

Lilo and Stitch’s Great Escape – interesting experience, not in Disneyland.

It’s a Small World – Small World in the Magic Kingdom is completely enclosed in a building, including the line (queue).

Tomorrow Land – Remains “relatively” unchanged, where it was updated at Disneyland a few years back.

Space Mountain – In the Magic Kingdom, this is the old Space Mountain that did not get the same upgrades as Disneyland received for the 50th Anniversary Celebration. You still sit in single file, and the ride is pretty poor in comparison.

Pirates of the Caribbean – Somewhat similar, although there is only one drop vs. two drops in Disneyland.

Overall – Because the park is much smaller than Disneyland, there just are not as many rides. This makes a lot of sense, and you see several of the other attractions spread throughout the other parks.

After spending the greater part of our day in the Magic Kingdom, we headed over to Epcot Center (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) for dinner at the Teppanyaki Dining Room, located in the country of Japan. If you have ever been to a Benihana Japanese Steakhouse – the experience at Teppanyaki is the same. Our meals were tasty, cooked properly and our chef was friendlier and more engaging than many I have experienced. The Teppanyaki Dining Room definitely gets high marks.

To end the evening, we wandered around the World Showcase just to spend some time before catching another showing of Illuminations, with its 6 million LED lights. My opinion is that Illuminations, although more than 7 years old is still the best nighttime show at Walt Disney World.